Young Justice: Heroes United
by Elkcubra
Summary: After an ambush destroys the whole of the Justice League, as well as causes the majority of the team to go missing, Artemis and Robin recruit new heroes, in the hopes of locating their friends and vanquishing the next threat to the Earth as we know it.
1. Prologue

**Date: 12/21/12**

**Time: 07:00**

The sun shone on the wreckage of the city. Not a single building was still intact. Not even the Hall of Justice had survived without permanent, and extensive, injuries. The casualties had been heavy, and along with the usual bystanders caught in the recent disaster, the entirety of the Justice League of America had been caught in the attack. None survived within a 10-mile radius, save two teenagers, a boy and a girl.

"I can't believe that they're really…" the boy began, but he cut his sentence off short in his shock. The silence in its place however, was easy to decipher.

"The others weren't here," the girl acknowledged. "They could still be alive. Aqualad and Superboy and Megan and…"

"Artemis, if they're out there, they'll be in hiding. We may be the last ones left to fight. If that's the case, we only have one option."

The girl, Artemis, looked at him ponderingly, tears welling up in her eyes.

"We need new allies. Once we can defend ourselves as a team again we can begin to search for the others."

She nodded, and the two once more fell into silence. They gazed over the ruins of the city once more, then turned and walked slowly away from the site of the disaster.


	2. Chapter 1

**Date: 1/7/13**

**Time: 15:46**

Sirens wailed. A blur of light flashed past the street as a cop-car chased down an armed robber. They were just beginning to catch up when the partner in crime poked his arm and head out the window and shot out the tires.

The cops screeched to a halt. They barely even had time to call for back-up when a flash of black and red zoomed overhead.

"Crud, it's him," the robber said. "Floor it, floor it, floor it!"

A thud resonated as something hit the roof. A gloved fist punched through the open window and threw the first robber out.

He flew through the air, screaming as the ground came closer and closer, but at the last moment he landed on a sticky net of webbing.

The other robber took hold of the wheel and kept driving, full speed ahead, as his partner hung suspended in the air behind him. A _splat_ Resonated as a sticky residue appeared on the front window.

The Robber careened off the side of the road and rammed the side of the building. A few seconds passed before the man leaped out of the car and took off.

He ran into an alley, not stopping until he came to a dead end.

"Crud!" he muttered. "Where do I go now?"

"How about Jail?" a voice asked from above him.

The man wheeled around, looking all around the alley. A flicker of movement was caught in his peripheral vision, but he couldn't see anything when he looked over.

"Good try," the voice said from behind him. The robber wheeled around and saw a man in a skin-tight black suit. The boots, gloves, tights, body, and head were all dark as midnight. The only pieces of the suit that weren't black were the eyes, which curved like half crescents, and a red insignia on his chest in the shape of a spider.

The man punched him and he slammed into the wall. The robber pulled out his gun and aimed it at the man in the suit. He pulled the trigger, and was sure he would hit the guy.

He was wrong.

The man stepped to the side as the trigger was pulled and grabbed the arm of his opponent. Before the robber knew what had happened, he was on his back, arms secured with webbing that was as strong as any steel.

"The Trashman will be here in a little while. Hang tight until then," the man said.

"Who are you?" the robber asked. "Some sort of vigilante?"

"I don't do Vigilante Justice," the man said as he walked away. "And the name is Spider-Man."

**-Young Justice - Heroes United-**

Rachel watched a second longer before she leaped from the roof and landed on the ground behind the boy. She shook the dust off her suit before she spoke up.

"What are you doing Will?"

The boy spun around and brought his hands up into a fighting position, but stopped when he realized who it was.

"Rachel, I thought you said you were going to the store." He responded, pulling the mask off his face as he did so.

His hair was brown, chocolate brown even, with crystal blue eyes. Both were similar shade to her own, which was odd since they had no relation to each other whatsoever.

"I was, then I saw you swing over my head." She replied.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead a second before he answered.

"I'm doing what my dad would have done. Just because the league and the MoA are gone, that doesn't mean we have to stop fighting. There are more of us out there-" he was cut off by Rachel before he could finish.

"We were only sidekicks Will!"

"Even if we aren't equal to the generation before us, we're still enough to make a difference."

"Will, that's great for you, but honestly what do you have to say for people like me, people who have no powers?"

A pause interjected between them before Will said anything.

"Batman, Robin, Catwoman, Black Cat…"

"Will, Black Cat is gone… Spiderman, Iron Man, The Human Torch, Superman, Green Lantern, they're all _gone_!"

"And if we don't fight back then their lives were wasted…"

They stood there a minute, both of them wondering what to say next. Finally, Will took a breath and spoke.

"I'm taking my dad's place as Spiderman. There's an underground resistance building up, and I'm going to join. If you want you could take after your aunt… become Black Cat…"

"Will, I haven't done any crime fighting for two years…"

"Then maybe it's time to dust off the suit."

She stood there for a moment and slowly nodded, and the two walked off toward an abandoned subway entrance, wondering if they were making the right choice."


	3. Chapter 2

**Date: 1/7/13**

**Time: 15:53**

Will and Rachel hadn't expected something ordinary when they got in. Quite the opposite in fact, but perhaps the fact that they did was even more shocking than what could have happened instead.

There were three kids sitting on the ground, two boys and one girl. The first was a black-skinned boy with bright green eyes that shone like emeralds. He seemed to radiate more heat than anyone or anything else in the room, though Will had no idea why.

The next was an Asian boy with dark hair and hazel colored eyes. He seemed normal until you realized that there were tiny electrical shocks going off around his hands every few seconds.

Finally there was the girl, with long red hair and dark blue eyes. Her face was covered in freckles, and she seemed incapable of smiling, instead choosing to frown at the wall in front of her.

"This is the resistance?" Rachel asked incredulously.

"Yup," the girl said as she stood. "My name is Carrie, and this is Josh and Michael," she finished as she pointed at first the Asian boy, and then the black-skinned one.

"Nice to meet you," Michael responded. Josh merely gave a slight nod of the head, not even bothering to look up at them, his eyes glued to the ground.

"Likewise," Will said cheerfully. "I'm Will Parker, and this is my friend Rachel Johnson."

"What do you have to offer?" Josh asked, still not looking them in the eye, though he had advanced to staring at their feet.

Will did a backflip, latching onto the wall and firing a web at the boy's feet in response. It made contact, but instantly sizzled and disintegrated after doing so."

"Impressive… It's been a while since I saw a Webber class Hero… what about the girl? Got any powers sweetheart?"

"Agility, strength, speed, quick-thinking, various gadgets," she responded coolly. "But powers like you guys? Nope."

"Hey there's more to heroes than powers," the boy said smiling. "Take Batman for example. He led the league and never had one power."

He finally looked them in the eye. He chuckled and shook Will's hand.

"Welcome to the resistance. Carol, or Carrie, here is a Stealther Class, Michael's our Hothead, and I'm the leader."

"I see Michael has flame abilities… easy to feel it coming from ya no offense. You already established your electrical powers, now clue me in… what's a Stealther?"

"I have invisibility, intangibility, and mirage capabilities. Handy for scouting missions." Carrie said, still frowning at them.

"How about in a fight?" Rachel asked glaring. Carrie just scowled at her in response.

Rachel pulled Will aside and began to talk to him in a hushed whisper.

"Seen enough yet?"

"Look I agree, Carrie isn't the easiest person to like, but can you at least give her a chance? You didn't exactly roll out the welcome wagon. Besides, Josh and Michael seem okay."

"Josh? I don't know Will, he gives me a weird vibe. Like there's more to him than meets the eye…"

"Do you trust me?"

She hesitated a second then answered back.

"I trust you, it's them I don't trust."

"You also just met them. Come on, give it a day then make your decision."

"Fine…" she growled, then walked back towards the others.

"She your girlfriend?" A voice asked behind him. He jumped a little bit and then turned to find Michael at his side.

"No, just an old friend," Will responded.

"You're crazy dude. If I were friends with a girl like that, I'd ask her out."

"And risk jeopardizing the friendship itself if a breakup comes around? I don't want to risk it."

"Hey, it's your funeral. Just puttin' my two cents in."

"Maybe when we're older, but not now. Thanks for the recommendation though."

"No problem… If you don't mind me asking though, why are you here?"

Will thought for a moment before responding. Why was he here? He himself didn't trust any of the kids there except for Rachel, and possibly Michael. So why stay with them?

The more he thought the more he realized he was overthinking however, and he drifted away from the topic.

"Here to fight back, same as you."

Michael shook his head and looked down at the ground. He sighed and then turned back toward Will.

"I'm not so sure man. Sometimes I wonder: why am I here? Then as I try and find one good reason, I realize I can't think of one. As soon as I do though, my mind steers away."

A chill ran down Will's spine. Wasn't that exactly what had just happened to him? Something was messing with their thoughts, he knew it. He tried to warn Michael and Rachel, but something stopped him. He then realized he couldn't remember what he had been about to say.

A few seconds passed and he couldn't remember where he had even been going. Strange, but he thought nothing of it. Probably wasn't that important if he couldn't remember.

Josh came running in just then waving his arms to get their attention.

"There's an opportunity for a resistance mission," he claimed, his voice loud and clear. "Let's get to it! We need to cover fifteen blocks in order to reach the location!"

He turned to Will and Michael, his expression so commanding that no thought even materialized in their heads of challenging him.

"Will, Michael, your faster than we are. Reach the mission field and take care of it to the best of your ability. We'll help as soon as we get there."

The pair nodded and ran out the subway entrance, Will swinging from the buildings, Michael flaming so intensely that it propelled him through the air like a space shuttle.

Will couldn't help but wonder what it was he had been thinking, but he figured it could wait. He had bigger fish to fry.


	4. Chapter 3

**Date: 1/7/13**

**Time: 16:20**

Will arrived first, swinging onto a rooftop to avoid being seen. He crouched there a second as Michael caught up with him and they stopped to listen to what was happening.

"Any idea what's going on with that new government system?" one guy asked below them. Will assumed that these were the guys they were supposed to handle.

"Not really, but as long as we stay in the business I'm cool," a second replied.

"You still got the weapons?" a third asked.

"Yeah they're in the back," the first replied. He was just turning around when a web stuck to his back and he was hung upside down, tied up in webbing.

The others spun around trying to spot the attacker when a fireball hit the second. The third pulled him to his feet, and they both pulled out guns.

"Time to go," Will noted when he saw the guns being pulled. He leapt off the roof and landed behind one. He whacked him with a bar that was lying on the ground. He turned around to face the other one when he felt a small voice in his head say, "Duck."

He did as the voice said and a knife blade stabbed just where his neck had been. He saw that it was the last thug, brandishing a nine-inch blade at his face.

He grabbed the thug's arm and grappled with it, throwing him against the wall and dislodging the knife from his hand. He flipped him over and grasped the weapon that had fallen by his foot, pointing it at the thug's face.

"Do it." A voice said behind him. It was Josh. Will recognized it immediately. "He would've done it to you."

Josh was right of course. This man had been ready and willing to stab him while his back was turned. So what was Will holding back?

Will slowly drew his hand back and flung the blade to the ground, turning to face Josh and the others.

"I'm not going to stoop to his level."

Josh's grin turned into a scowl. He stared angrily for a few seconds before responding.

"Are you disobeying me?"

"If this is what the resistance is about, I want no part of it."

Josh glared and concentrated, his intent masked by his expression.

"You can't control me Josh. I know what you do. You have electrical powers, so you control our minds with them. I know what you're doing. I can fight it. So can Michael, and Rachel too."

Josh grinned and gestured to them. "Are you sure? Do you want to take that chance? I could kill you right now, and they wouldn't life a finger."

"Then that's a chance I'll have to take." And Will turned to leave.

Josh pointed a weapon at Will's back. It was small and slender, but was designed for obvious destruction. He was about to pull the trigger when something collided with his left side.

"Run Will!" Michael cried out. He grappled with Josh a few seconds more, but was ripped away by Carrie. She went invisible, and Michael turned around to try and find her but spotted nothing. Then he heard a sound behind him and something struck his back.

In the confusion, Josh slipped away, and took off after Will, who was swinging down the streets, trying desperately to lose his opponent.

Will was in mid-swing when his web was cut. He began to fall, and noticed a needle falling below him. He noticed it was metal, and it all clicked. Metal. Magnetism. Electricity. Josh was after him.

He dropped and latched onto a clothesline, zipping down it until he noticed a train just below him. He dropped and landed on top.

Thankfully, he could maintain balance due to his spider-powers. He noticed however that Josh wasn't far behind. He too landed on the train, and stayed on, probably bending the electricity to magnetize himself to the roof.

"How did you even get over here?" Will asked.

"There's electricity everywhere Will! You just have to know how to work with it."

"You went through the phone wires didn't you?"

"…maybe…"

Will pulled the first attack, firing a ball of webbing strung together so hard that it could crack cement. Josh leaned to the left and it zoomed past him.

"You have good aim," he commented. "Let's see how your close-range is."

Josh charged and swung a blade at him. It was a foot, maybe a foot and a half long, and wickedly sharp.

Will ducked and caught a vague sense of déjà vu. He had seen this in some movie, he just knew it.

He leaned and swerved, dodging the various swings of the blade, and throwing a punch or two when he could. It was going well from his point of view until the traffic light came along.

Josh simply pointed his hand and the light bent and swung, knocking him off the train.

Will grabbed a trash can with a web in one hand, and the train with the other. He took the lid, slid it under his feet, and caught the train with both webs, zooming behind the locomotive, grinding along the rails on his make-shift skateboard.

Josh didn't notice this of course, thinking the problem was gone right up until he has knocked off the train with a rock-hard ball of webbing. He latched onto the side with one hand and noticed Will at the end, who was climbing along the side.

They both climbed on top when Josh grinned and placed his hand on the roof of the vehicle.

"Love to stay for the happy ever after," he said, his voice covered with malice. "But I think you have a train to catch." Then he reached out, grabbed a telephone wire, and was gone.

What did that even mean? And what did he touch the train for? Then he remembered the sparks that had come off of his hand when he made contact.

"Crud." He muttered. He saw a flash of light to his side and turned to see Michael and Rachel landing behind him.

"We took care of sweet Carol until she ran off with her tail between her legs," Rachel commented. "I managed to put a tracker on her. How'd it go with Josh?"

He quickly explained the situation, hitting only the major points, and then they made their way to the driver, Will pretty much keeping them all on as they were tied to his waist with webs.

"Pull the brakes!" Will shouted over the wind when they got to the front. Needless to say the conductor was surprised to find three kids on the roof of the train, but he did as Will asked.

Just as Will expected, nothing happened. He turned to Rachel and Michael after checking the wheels.

"You two try everything you can think of on the train, see if you can get it to come back online, I'll try and pull it to a stop." They simply nodded in response and leapt into the front car.

Will scanned his brain to remember what his dad had said to do in this situation. The original Spidey had been in a similar situation, but then the breaks had just been gone, not the entire train unresponsive.

In the end he had no better ideas however, and he quickly added a last minute touch to the plan, attaching small amounts of webbing to each wheel to try and speed up the deceleration process.

Then he climbed onto the very front of the train, and shot as many webs as he could hold onto the buildings around him.

The webs pulled tight. It took everything in him not to let go. Some of the webs snapped and pieces of the buildings broke off, and somewhere along the way Will lost all sense of time and could focus on nothing but the intense pain in his limbs.

After a minute or so, Michael and Rachel got the train back online, and they pulled the breaks.

Between the breaks and the webs, the locomotive came to a stop within thirty seconds, a very quick time considering how fast the train had been moving. This was a state of the art Volt-Rail Locomotive, and could maintain speeds of 500 mph.

When the motion ceased, Will hung on the train a few more seconds before he collapsed onto the rails, unconscious.

Rachel and Michael noticed him slip off the window of course and, each taking an arm, dragged him off the tracks and back to the subway.

Michael worried that Carrie and Josh would expect them to go there, but Rachel reasoned that the tracked didn't put the two anywhere near the subway, and that they'd never expect them to go for that very reason. Ultimately, Michael had no reasonable argument, and they set off anyway, wondering what had been so important that Josh had been willing to kill someone to retrieve it.


	5. Chapter 4

**Date: 1/7/13**

**Time: 20:14**

When Will awoke from his unconscious slumber, he immediately noticed Rachel sitting beside him. She was watching him with a pained expression on her face, and didn't stop until she saw him open his eyes, a sight upon which she immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"You're awake," she murmured quietly, her voice showing the tension and worry that had haunted her the last few hours.

"Yeah, I noticed," Will responded. He then sat up, slowly, for his exhausted muscles would allow no other kind of movement, and examined his injuries.

"How long until those recover?" Michael responded.

Will glanced in his direction. He hadn't noticed him standing in the corner. He knew he shouldn't trust him. After all he had been allied with Josh. Then again, he had also saved his life, and aided him with the train. That deserved at least his trust didn't it?

"About five minutes," he responded surely.

Michael laughed a few seconds at that before he noticed the serious expression on Will's face. "You serious?"

Will nodded in response. "My powers extend as far as my dad's, maybe further. I'm not quite sure. All I know is I have the majority of his power, including his self-healing abilities, though mine are spiked up a notch more."

"Why didn't they recover while you were unconscious?" Rachel inquired.

"The powers seem to be linked to me. When I'm awake, so are they. When I'm out cold, they move a little slower."

Michael nodded, took a quick glance at Rachel, flicked his eyes back to Will, and seemingly made up his mind.

"I'll, uh, give you to a moment." And with that he left the room, closing the door gently but securely behind him.

Rachel waited a moment before asking the question that had been haunting her. "Why didn't you go all out with him?"

"How do you know I didn't?" Will asked in return, though he took some time before he did.

"We watched some of the battle. We couldn't reach you so we had to wait for a way to get over."

Will didn't respond so she asked again, obviously wanting an answer.

"Why didn't you go all out? He was trying to kill you! And those passengers! You could've used your stingers, the laser-legs, your utility belt, but you didn't use any of it! You could've-"

Will cut her short and spoke in response. "Those are killing weapons Rachel. I don't play to kill unless I have no other option. I had no idea those passengers were in danger until it was too late."

"The utility belt weapons aren't. The Web Bombs aren't."

"I didn't think of those in the heat of the moment Rachel. I was fighting for my life. Forgive me for not having a mental list of every single possibility that could happen."

Rachel nodded, then frowned as if something worried her, despite his reassurances that he had done all he could.

"What is it Rach?" Will asked. "I've told you, I-"

"It's not that…" she responded, cutting him off mid-sentence.

"Then what is it," Will asked, his voice full of concern.

Rachel lowered her eyes, and her voice, and responded: "I thought you were going to die…"

Will frowned, got to his feet, and approached her, for she had walked to the wall, facing it but staring at the floor. True to his word, the wounds were pretty much healed. Only a few tiny scrapes remained, and they too were beginning to fade.

"And leave you behind? Not likely." Rachel nodded, but her eyes were still downcast.

"Rachel look at me," and he gently touched her face and forced her to look at him. "I'm fine. See?" he assured her, gesturing to the healing scrapes on his arm.

"Rachel if I were in any real danger I would have pulled the Bomb, or the belt, or, if it really came to that point, the stingers. But the need didn't arise. None of that would've helped stop the train."

She nodded and gave a small smile before wiping her eyes, which had begun to tear up, on the back of her hand.

"Guys?" Michael shouted from behind the door.

"What is it?" Will inquired, hoping they had found a way to track down Josh. He didn't want that psychopath running around searching for something so deadly he would kill him, Rachel, Mike, some thugs, _and_ a trainload of bystanders for it.

"I think I tracked down the weapon they were after."

In seconds Will and Rachel were standing beside him and gazing at the computer screen that belonged to his laptop.

"Where'd you get that?" Rachel asked.

"Found it."

"Where would you find a mint condition, fully functioning, thousand dollar laptop just lying around?"

"That's besides that point. Now look."

Grudgingly, she turned her attention to the screen and Michael began to explain.

"I managed to get-"

"Hack," Will interrupted.

"I managed to _hack_ into the city security system and followed a tracer chip that Rachel placed on Carrie during the fight, just before she escaped. I heard a location during a conversation between the two, and tracked it to this location."

A red dot flashed on the screen, located on the south end of the city when shown on the map.

"Large quantities of Vibranium Alloys are registering, along with a severe amount of voltage running from the power plants in the area to this building. If there's a weapon they're after, this is it."

"Any idea what it is?" Will asked.

"Not a clue. Guess we'll find out when we get there."

"Wait, we're going after them?" Rachel exclaimed.

"You want _them_ to get it?" Michael pointed out. Will nodded in agreement and made one last note.

"Besides, I owe Josh a butt-whooping for earlier. I think the train passengers deserve at least that much."


	6. Chapter 5

**Date: 1/7/13**

**Time: 21:40 **

It took an hour or so for the three to get to their destination after Michael tracked it down. When they arrived however, they realized they might be in for a long night.

Will took a quick glance at Rachel as they gazed down from the roof. She had just put her suit on for the first time in weeks. She looked good, but that wasn't why he was staring.

He knew that with her suit she was more than capable of defending herself. With the gray coloring to blend in on covert operations and the weapons in her belt she was fine, even without taking her martial arts into account. Still, he was worried that she would get injured and he would feel responsible, whether his fault or not.

Sol was in his suit too, but Will could tell on sight that he was in the least amount of danger. He had a mechanic suit made of a Vibranium Alloy that was red and Yellow in coloring. It looked very similar to what Iron Man had worn before the fall of the MoA and Will was curious as to the reason of the resemblance. Now was not the time however, and he let it slide.

Will signaled to the two of them to wait while he accomplished phase one of the plan. As silent as… well, a spider, he dove off the building and swung down a dark alley, scaling the wall and entering through an open window.

He moved quietly through the halls of the building, keeping his front to the wall as much as possible so that the black of his suit would camouflage him, and so his red insignia wouldn't give him away.

He unlocked the door and tapped a button on the communicator strapped to his belt (hidden beneath the suit so it wasn't visible until he pulled the torso section of the suit up).

"It's open. Come on in."

He removed his hand from the button, canceling the transmission, and a second or so later Rachel and Mike were standing beside him.

Will put a finger to his lips and pointed up at an air vent. He nodded to Rachel and she gave a thumb up in response.

Will pulled the vent down with a web, and she climbed into the hole and began making her way down the tunnels. Every once in a while she caught a flicker of movement below when she passed another vent, and she'd halt until it moved out of sight.

She passed about five vents, made a right turn, then a left, and came upon a dead end, only a vent below her and a blue light resonating from somewhere just ahead of it.

She signaled Will and Michael with a transmission and waited in the vent above until they reached her.

The moment Will got the transmission he leapt onto the wall and climbed onto the ceiling. He began to advance, the Black of his suit concealing him from those below. Mike hit a button on his armored suit and it turned jet black and silver instead of its normal red and yellow.

They continued down the hall, Will scaling the walls, Mike skirting to the side of them. They came upon a guard once, but Will dropped down and knocked him upside the head. After that they tied him in webbing and put him in a vent, but they were a little more careful when making their way to Rachel.

They reached the door, and Will gave a light tap in order to let her know they were there. Rachel shone a greenish-light on the keyboard, which exposed recent fingerprints, and typed in the necessary code.

The door responded once the final letter went in, and Will and Michael slipped in immediately. The door slid closed behind them and the three began to relay information in hushed whispers.

"There are a few guards stationed outside that we slipped past," Michael noted. "They're going to run in here guns ablaze if we so much as breathe wrong."

"Well they shouldn't hear much through that door or the walls," Rachel confirmed. "The main worry is that light down there. If we're looking for a weapon then that's the one."

"Any idea what it is?" Will asked.

"Not a clue, didn't want to take a risk without backup," she replied.

"Well then let's take a look," Will finished, and the other two nodded in response.

They slipped around the corner and found a pod in the center of the room, shelves of jars behind it. The light was resonating from the pod and the group cautiously approached it, hoping it wouldn't trigger an alarm.

Rachel tapped a series of numbers in and the pod began to open. Slowly at first, then faster and faster, and within seconds the pod was completely open, and all three of them went wide eyed… At least Rachel and Michael did. Will's face was blocked by his mask.

Inside the pod was a young girl, probably around fifteen, sixteen at the most. She had Blonde hair and pale white skin. She was strikingly beautiful, but that wasn't why any of them were shocked.

Her entire body, save the hands and head, was encased in a robotic, silver suit, bright blue lines of energy running through it. She seemed to be connected the suit itself.

"I think we found our weapon," Rachel Breathed, and Michael had been about to nod when the girl opened her eyes. They were Bright Blue at first, shining as bright as a supernova, but they dimmed down and only crystal blue irises and jet black pupils remained on the face of the eye. After a few second the irises sparked and turned an emerald green in place of the crystal a second ago.

"Where… am I?" The girl groaned as she slowly sat up.

"You're in a laboratory…" Michael responded slowly. "We're here to get you out."

"Get me out?" The girl asked. "Why?"

"Because if we don't some kids are going to come and force you to do things you'll never forgive yourself for." Will explained. The girl looked at him in shock, her eyes wide with confusion.

"Who are you though?" She asked. Then she glanced at her body and turned pale. "And how did _this_ happen?"

"We have no idea how that got the way it is," Rachel asked. "But if you come with us I promise we'll help you find out."

"I'm Will. Will Parker. And this is Rachel and Michael," Will told the girl."

"I'm Sarah…," the girl responded carefully, still not trusting the three completely. Will helped her up and then Michael began checking the circuits on her body for injuries.

As this was going on, Will started hearing a small voice seeming to come from the shelves. "Do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" Rachel asked.

Will hesitated and then shook his head, deciding not to mention it. "Never mind."

A few more seconds passed and he began to hear it again. He slowly walked to the shelves and found the source of the noise (at least he assumed it was).

What he thought to be the source was a small cylindrical jar sitting on the top shelf, not surrounded by anything else, which was strange seeing how cluttered the other shelves were.

Inside was a dark green substance, slime-like in texture, the same color as moss when twilight gave way to the darkness of night. It squirmed against the glass, or so it seemed, but Will knew better. There was no way slime could move.

At any rate he had just screwed the lid off to get a closer look when Rachel disrupted concentration.

"Will?" she asked. "What are you doing?"

Will looked over at her and was about to say "never mind" when a large bang sounded from outside, and the lights flickered out.

"Is everyone all right?" Will asked, and he heard three confirmations before the lights flickered on again.

"Do you think it's…?" Michael asked.

"With the lights flickering out? They have a huge generator in here," Rachel noted. "It has to be Josh and Carrie."

"Let's get out of here," Will responded, and was just leaving with the others when he noticed something peculiar. The Jar, full of the slime mere seconds ago, was now empty. Not even a smear on the jar, or an imprint on the lid.

"Will? Is everything okay?" Rachel asked, concern evident in her voice.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. His mind was playing tricks. Overtired or something. No possible way Slime could disappear like that. And yet…

"I'm fine. No big deal. Now let's get out of here."


	7. Chapter 6

**Date: 1/7/13**

**Time: 22:26**

The four ran down the halls, not even caring for stealth anymore. The explosions behind were loud enough to cover any noise _they_ could make.

None of them were sure how far behind the detonations were, just that they had started minutes after they had left the chamber Sarah had resided in, and that Josh and Carrie couldn't be far behind.

They took turn after turn, corridor after corridor, but it soon became evident that they had no idea how to get out. They slowed their pace slightly but stopped dead in their tracks when they came to a large chamber at the edge of the building.

They were about seventeen stories up, and the back wall was made of thin glass, much like a large window, but transparent enough that it looked like you could step right out. The team looked at each other quickly, and then turned to exit the room. However, they halted mere moments later when faced with the biggest problem of the night.

Standing in the doorway, blocking their one exit was Josh and Carrie, smirking in what they no doubt assumed was an easy victory. Will grimaced and began to think of possible solutions as Josh stepped forward.

The walls to the left and right, as well as the ceiling and floor, were much too thick to even consider busting through. Another option would be the window, but even with heightened acrobatics in the case of Rachel, Will was the only one that was sure to survive it, for they still had no idea what Sarah's powers were. Finally, the doorway, their last possible exit, was blocked by the two people they had come here to thwart.

"Will, Will, Will," Josh chided. "I honestly thought you were better than this."

"We beat you here didn't we?" Will countered.

Josh smirked and gave a small chuckle. "Touché," he said. "Now hand over the girl and we can be on our way."

Will glanced at Sarah, and for a small moment, the girl actually worried he was considering. She didn't know the three teens she was with, but she did trust them. Then he stepped in front of her and she exhaled in relief.

"No Josh. I'm not betraying her. Not to you, not to _anybody_."

Josh nodded his head as if he'd expected, even anticipated just such an answer. "Well then, you can go down first." And with that a bolt of lightning shot out of his hand and connected dead center with Will, sending him shooting into the cement wall behind.

"Will!" Rachel shouted, and Josh let loose a sinister laugh that provided anything but mirth or humor to the scene. She tried to reach him, but Carrie barred the path.

"I don't think so," she growled, and punched Rachel in the abdomen.

Rachel felt the breath run out of her lungs, but she stayed on her feet and used the momentum from the impact to swing into a spinning kick to the jaw. Carrie stumbled back, but quickly recovered. The two charged and launched into a series of complex martial arts movements.

Rachel punched, kicked, rammed, and blocked as fast as she could, but she was at a disadvantage. She was much less experienced than Carrie, at least as of late, and she couldn't keep going much longer.

It was then that she noticed Will crying out to the side, a blood-curdling scream that delved deep into her soul, and she turned to see his condition.

She had made a fatal mistake however, and Carrie slammed her with such force that she was unable to get up after impact with the wall. She glanced to Will and saw Josh standing a few feet away from her friend, who crumpled on the floor, being continuously electrocuted by a bolt of lightning extending from Josh's fingers.

Carrie came over and placed a weapon to her forehead, a pistol it seemed, and Rachel saw her life flash before her eyes. She closed her eyes, ready to accept defeat, when a large explosion rattled around her.

Michael was standing to the side, flames dancing from his suit as he lowered his hand, which was extended toward Carrie's limp body. He was walking toward Rachel, with Sarah at his side when Will came flying between them and crumpled to the ground, sparks flying from his suit. His mask was off, evidently removed by Josh during the fight.

Michael turned to help him as Sarah aided Rachel, but all three of them were blasted with bolts of lightning, which sent them across the chamber. Josh fell to the ground unconscious, but Sarah continued to spark and fizzle until the light of her wiring went dark and she fainted.

Sarah was alive, but extremely injured, and the voltage of Josh's blast had caused her to short-circuit.

Rachel had gotten lucky, or unlucky, depending on how you looked at it. She too was unable to stand, but she was conscious. The bad part came when Josh walked over to her. He put his shoe on her chest to pin her, not that she needed it and pointed his hand at her.

"Surrender the girl," he commanded.

"Never," she responded with malice dripping from her voice.

"Any last words?" he asked. As his hands began to charge and fizzle. She shook her head and lowered her eyes.

Josh fired the blast, but his aim was extremely inaccurate, making contact ten feet above her head. Rachel wondered how it had happened until she noticed a small strand of webbing attached to his wrist. He in turn turned around to snarl at Will, who had risen to his feet. Evidently the adrenaline had sped his self-healing abilities.

"You just don't know when to quit do you?" he snapped.

"I know _very _well when to quit," Will retorted. "I choose not to listen to it."

"Your loss," Josh breathed, and a bolt of lightning shot from his palm.

Time seemed to slow from Will's perspective, though Will seemed to be moving similarly to his regular velocity. He saw the bolt coming, but easily leaped and corkscrewed out of the way, landing on his feet and tackling Josh out the window.

The two grappled as they fell each trying to get on top of the other. Will punched him in the face and earned a sharp kick to the gut in response, propelling him back, but he latched on with a web and made a solid knee-launch into Josh's abdomen.

Josh cried out in pain, but blasted Will onto a roof 15 stories down from the window. Will cracked the stone roof upon impact, but somehow didn't fall all the way through. Josh landed in front of him and Will rolled to his feet.

"You could've stayed with us Will," Josh reminded him. "You could've began a new era of heroes."

"You're no hero," Will spat. Josh charged in with an electrified punch and Will rolled over his opponent's shoulder to dodge it. The tactic succeeded, but only momentarily, as Josh came back around with a spinning side kick.

Will flew through the air and crashed onto the roof about ten feet away, rolling across the top from the momentum. He struggled to his feet but was barely able to stand.

"This is the best fight you can give?" Josh taunted him. "I must say I expected more. I'll enjoy killing you, and then I'll go back for your little girlfriend."

"You lay a hand on her and I swear…" Will threatened.

"Swear you'll what?" Josh said. "When I'm done with her she'll be begging for a second chance to redeem herself, anything to stop the pain, and there is _nothing_ you can do about it."

And then Will snapped. He completely and utterly snapped. His vision went red with rage and if you asked him what he did during that battle he never could have told you.

The truth was that Will activated powers he had bottled up for years, unsure whether he could control them. In a sense it was the best thing that ever happened to him, for he would need them in many coming battles, but it was also a curse, because in using them, he would never, _ever_ be the same.

In a moment of pure instinct Will pressed a button on his belt, and four mechanical spider legs sprouted from a machine on his back. Each was tapped into his nervous system, but there was no way they could take over as had happened with one of his father's enemies years and years ago, since they possessed no minds of their own, instead relying on Will's to do the work.

Will charged at Josh, adrenaline and rage still guiding his movements and two stingers popped through the top of his wrist. He slashed with the two of them simultaneously, Josh barely dodging the blow in his shock. The boy came at him with an electrified punch, but Will grabbed his wrist and threw him twenty feet across the building.

Josh struggled to his feet, but immediately fell back down when a laser shot out of one of the mechanical limbs Will had activated. The beam connected, blowing Josh off the roof, but the boy caught onto the side, pulling himself up. He continued to strike Will, punch after punch, but his foe easily dodged every single one. Then Will flipped over Josh's head and swiftly kicked him in the face and into the air.

Will grabbed something from his belt and threw it into the air. It soared up and then exploded when it hit Josh, webbing shooting in every direction so that Josh lay tangled in a net of the sticky fluid, unconscious and defeated. Will grabbed him, tied him to a police car and laid a note to the cops explaining what to do. He then climbed to the roof and approached his friends, who were still lying on the floor in an unconscious stupor.

They slowly arose as he walked in and struggled to their feet as they went towards him. He told them what had happened and they nodded in understanding, if not in a little shock. The stingers in Will's wrists had retracted, as had the mechanical limbs, but the damage to his suit from the battle was still evident, rips and tears showing across the entire costume.

They were just about to leave, Will lowering each of them down on a string of webbing through the shattered window, when a disc shot into the room and latched into the wall. A note was attached and the four quickly skimmed through the content.

_Good job with the rescue_. _Meet at the warehouse on 274 Gotham Road at 4:00 pm so we can discuss some plans._

_Sincerely, Robin and Artemis_


	8. Chapter 7

**Date: 1/8/13**

**Time: 16:00 (4:00pm)**

Will read the note once more. They were supposed to be here. He knew this wasn't a trap. Robin and Artemis were on a secret team, but every sidekick on the planet (and some off of it) knew about them. He had assumed they were dead. They all had.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Sarah asked. After the rescue the night before she had decided to stay with them. They weren't sure how long the group would stay together, but they knew they trusted each other.

"Positive. Didn't get any sleep last night thinking about it." Looking at his eyes it was obviously true. At least it was true he hadn't gotten any sleep at any rate. Chances were he was also haunted by the battle he had endured against Josh.

They waited another quarter hour. By now they were beginning to worry. They should be here shouldn't they?

"Come on Will," Michael prompted. "They obviously aren't coming."

"Wrong," A voice said behind them. Will slowly stood from the chair he had been sitting in and turned to face the sound.

"Sorry we took so long," the voice continued. By now he was visible to the whole group. Two more figures stood behind him, both obviously female. The boy was around 14 and had spiky black hair. He wore dark sunglasses and a brown jacket. The first girl was the only other one visible. She had a bow slung on his back, a green top and pants, with her long blonde hair tied into a ponytail.

"I'm Robin." The boy kept going. "And this is Artemis," he continued, gesturing toward the blonde. "Now, before we get down to business… are any of you sure as to why we called you here?"

All of the kids shook their head, and the only exception was Will. Instead, he stood there, looking uncomfortable.

"Will? Do you know?" Robin asked. Will hesitated and then responded slowly, like he was trying to figure out how to word it.

"If what I think is right…"

"Go on," Robin prompted.

"Then four people isn't going to be enough for the whole team." He didn't say it like a question as much as he did a statement, but it was obviously still an inquiry about who else who be joining the group.

"Wait, hold on," Rachel interjected. "What do you mean a whole team? What's going on?"

"I think Robin and Artemis are starting a team…" Will stated, and Artemis nodded in response.

"Last time we tried that it didn't end to well," Michael pointed out, and Sarah nodded in agreement.

"That wasn't caused by the idea of a resistance so much as the bonehead you called a leader," Artemis shot back.

A pause went on for a few seconds before asked the question on everyone's mind.

"Then who will the new leader be?" Robin and Artemis glanced at each other as if deciding who should answer.

"That's not really up to us," Robin finally stated, and Artemis nodded as she continued off of the statement.

"Take a vote if you want, but in the end you guys are the team not us. Now, on the subject of who'll be joining you, I don't think that information will be supplied until you give an answer.

Will, Rachel, Michael, and Sarah all glanced at each other. It was almost as if they were reading each other's thoughts. Slowly, but surely, they came to a conclusion, and Will nodded, the others following as soon as he did so.

"Well, now that that's settled…" Robin continued. "Meet your new teammate. This is Shift, but you can call her Kate. She's an old friend of mine's cousin, and can Shape-shift at will. Kate, this is Will, Rachel, Michael, and Sarah."

"Nice to meet you," she muttered shyly, blushing as she did so, her light skin turning pink in embarrassment.

"Likewise," Will responded, and then turned to Robin once more. "Anyone else?"

"We'll be on the lookout, but at the moment, you're all we have."

"And you're not going to tell us why we're starting this?" he asked flatly.

"When the time comes, the information will be presented. Until then, do your job and we'll do ours."

Will nodded, and the two experienced heroes that had called them there turned and left, vanishing as soon as the door opened to the outside world.

**-Young Justice: Heroes United-**

"It's high time we destroyed him…" A voice said, and had Will been there, he would have recognized it from the night before.

A light came on, but something about it cast a green, unearthly glow on the boy's skin. It was indeed Josh, and behind him was Carrie, her back to him, sitting in a chair.

"He made us into fools. He ruined us. But soon we will ruin him…" He paced the room, the unearthly tint still radiating from his skin, whether in the light or not, and his teeth had taken a sharper point.

"We will make him pay for all of his mistakes, and then we will make his friends suffer for those he has yet to make." It was now evident that his fingers had elongated into sharp claws.

"He may have caused us annoyance, maybe even pain, but he will rue the day he angered us, and he will learn the meaning of torment." He was pacing furiously now, angering at the memory of he and Will's previous encounter.

"He has been a thorn in our side, a threat to our mission, and a plague to our existence. He is our bane, but soon he will destroy him once and for all."

He now crossed to Carrie, staring directly at the body. There was no movement. There was no steady rise and fall of the chest as she inhaled and exhaled. There was only a pale white color to her skin, and several scrapes and bruises running along her body.

"We will never forget, we will never forgive, and we will never turn away from the fight. We will remember, we will infuriate, we will follow the prey. And when the chase is done… there's a reason Cat's have nine lives, but spider's only have one…


	9. Coming Soon and Other Novels

Coming Soon:

Young Justice - Heroes United Vol. II: Year of the Bat

Titans 101 Vol. III: The Realization

Also by Elkcubra:

Hogwarts: The Next Generation – Book One

Finiar – Book One of The Shadow Cycle

Ruins of The Wild- Book One of The Ruins of The Gods

Titans 101 – Vols. 1 and 2

Yu-Gi-Oh – Nature's Judgement Vol. I


End file.
